Air NZ tells govt to back off after minister's criticism

Air NZ has taken the unusual step of spelling out to the government the commercial relationship it has with the Crown after sustained attacks of its approach to the regions by cabinet minister Shane Jones. The airline has written to Finance Minister Grant Robertson, who represents the government's 51% stake, and told him it will always act independently. "Any appearance of a lack of commercial independence is viewed seriously by the Air NZ board and is ultimately potentially damaging to the interests of all shareholders, including the Crown." And the airline's CE Christopher Luxon said despite clear "terms of engagement" there could be a misunderstanding about the Crown's stake and what it means. "The Crown has the same rights as any other shareholder. That doesn't mean they can dictate the operations of the company, they can't use their majority shareholder position to make the company make non-commercial decisions," Luxon said. "Decision making is with the company board and the Treasury expects all those decisions to be commercial."<br/>